So, There's A Chance You've Been Pronouncing This 'Harry Potter' Name Wrong

Oops.
- byTina Burke

03 May
2017

Real talk: J.K. Rowling gave her Harry Potter characters those unusual names just to mess with us. Probably.

A large group of fans pronounced Hermione as 'Her-Me-Own' when the first book came out, and 'Sigh-Ri-Us' (aka Sirius) definitely got a mention at some stage, too. Don't even get us started on Rubeus Hagrid.

If you're a major Harry Potter fan you *probably* think you've gotten the hang of all the names and pronunciations by now, so let's test that theory.

Reddit user Roonil-B-Wazlib posted on Monday that they just had an intense realisation. Having thought Ginny's name was short for Ginerva — rhyming with Minerva, like McGonagall — Roonil-B-Wazlib realised that the letters are actually the other way round. Ginny's name is really short for Ginevra. GinEVra!

So, your HP loving life might actually be a lie if you've been walking around thinking she was a Ginerva all this time. Within the thread, other Reddit users even admitted to pronouncing Ginny as 'Guinnea' and not 'Jinny' until very recently. The confusion is so very real.

The next time J.K. writes a book (PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN) a detailed seminar on the pronunciation of names and spells could be helpful.